Chapter 154

However, something even more unexpected happened next. As the white coat was unfolded, another thing wrapped inside floated to the ground—an eye mask that looked like it would be used at a masquerade ball. However, this eye mask was pure white, with patterns drawn around the eye sockets like those on black-rimmed glasses, making it look very strange.

White coat and black-rimmed glasses, huh? What kind of religious sect do you belong to?

Ai Yue picked up the blindfold and put it on his face, his urge to complain growing stronger.

He began to doubt the true nature of this sect. What if he went in and found a blackboard full of formulas and code?

Please, let's add a bit of the atmosphere of a religious organization!

"Stop standing there, let's go."

Ai Yue was still in a daze when Mobius nudged him, "It looks like someone is coming out from over there. Is it the Eden mentioned who's here to pick us up?"

Ai Yue glanced at Mobius subconsciously, then revealed a somewhat subtle expression—the other party had changed his height and build, and even his waist-length wavy hair had become shoulder-length short hair, making him practically a different person.

You seem to be in a lot of interest!

However, now is not the time to complain about this, because a person dressed the same as them did indeed walk out of the building across the street. Judging from the exposed physical features, the person was a woman around thirty years old.

"You must be the new recruits Eden mentioned?"

The other party walked up to Ai Yue and his companion and asked directly, "Have you understood the specifics?"

"Understood,"

Ai Yue nodded, then started to introduce himself, "My name is..."

"Names are not important. If you can pass the initiation test, you will have your own unique number."

The other person pointed to the name tag hanging around their neck, which read "096". "Within the sect, we address each other by number, so there's no need to worry about your identity."

Ai Yue nodded, indicating his understanding.

This approach is quite good; it can be said that it minimizes the potential disparities caused by social status. Combined with the white coats and masks, it at least shows that the founder of the sect genuinely wanted to create an environment where everyone is equal.

Whether this will actually work is hard to say, since people will always find a way to compete with each other.

The two quickly entered the building under 096's guidance. Only Ai Yue looked up beforehand, showing a somewhat puzzled expression.

He felt the place looked familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

The building's interior structure was not complicated. After entering the main gate and passing through a foyer, the three of them arrived at an auditorium. In this spacious space, countless people dressed exactly like Ai Yue and his companions were gathered—along with countless blackboards.

Great, exactly what I expected.

Ai Yue shook his head slightly, not at all surprised by this scene. Then he felt Mobius tug at his sleeve. "Look over there."

Following Mobius's direction, he saw a statue over three meters tall standing on the north side of the auditorium.

It was a pure white male statue wearing a white coat. His face was not detailed, but he wore black-rimmed glasses. Judging from his hairstyle, he should be a young man.

And that is indeed the case—if Ai Yue is not mistaken, the discovery is almost exactly the same as his.

It seems the case has been solved.

"Wow, that's really something."

Mobius lowered his voice and said in Yin and Yang tone, "How does it feel to see the great Doctor Ai Yue, a genius unparalleled in human history, being worshipped like a god?"

"What are they thinking?"

Ai Yue looked helpless. "Can't we just focus on scientific research?"

"Alright, you two, come over here."

At the same time, 096 beckoned them over, saying, "As long as you can complete your respective three questions, you will have successfully joined the cult."

"Is it really that simple?"

Ai Yue paused for a moment, "It doesn't sound like a religious sect, but rather like some kind of hobby exchange group."

"Actually, it's pretty much the same, after all, it's not a very strict organization."

096 said with a smile, "We all came here with the same idea. The fact that you are willing to come already meets the most basic requirement."

"The same ideology?"

Ai Yue asked, "What philosophy?"

Knowledge should be shared.

096 points in the direction of the statue, "That is the belief conveyed by the god we believe in."

In front of the sculpture, there is a blackboard that stands out more than the others. It is completely empty around itself, as if to highlight its special status.

Ai Yue and Mobius walked over, and the moment they saw what was written on the blackboard, they couldn't help but show subtle expressions.

The document contained three questions—the same three questions that Ai Yue had presented at the science and technology exchange conference.

Twenty one

Chapter Twenty-One: You use this to test your cadres?

"It's this."

When Ai Yue saw what was written on the blackboard, he couldn't help but show a strange expression. "I thought they had already been dealt with long ago."

"They have certainly been solved, but their very existence represents a certain idea."

096 said from the side, "Since you are all scholars, you cannot possibly not understand the significance of this knowledge—never before in history has anyone been so generous in giving away this level of knowledge for free."

That's true.

Mobius nodded. "I also find it hard to imagine that anyone would do such a thing."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance at Ai Yue beside her—initially, she didn't really approve of what Ai Yue was doing. After all, knowledge that is easily obtained is not necessarily cherished, and if such knowledge falls into the hands of someone with ill intentions, it could easily lead to disaster.

However, it turns out that Mobius was overthinking it, because since this knowledge was disseminated, no one has used it for evil purposes—after all, for most people, seeing is not the same as understanding, and understanding is not the same as being able to use it.

"Isn't this kind of thing quite normal?"

Ai Yue simply shrugged. "Knowledge can only be revitalized in the process of circulation. Among all the means of circulation, direct disclosure is the simplest and most direct method. I even think the scope of disclosure is not large enough."

The science and technology exchange conference is ultimately not a public event open to everyone. Much of its content is confined to a relatively narrow environment, and more than 80 percent of the world's population has never even heard of such an event. Therefore, the information disclosed therein is basically only circulated within the academic circle of Atra City.

Although this level of public disclosure can be said to have maximized the value of this knowledge, it is still far from enough for Ai Yue.

There may not be another player in the world with such extraordinary abilities as him, but there will definitely be geniuses like Vill-V or Mobius. However, in the current environment, they may be limited by their own living conditions and unable to grow.

What Ai Yue wanted to do was to create a suitable environment for them so that they could showcase their talents.

Unfortunately, this plan is currently the last project in his portfolio, so it will be difficult to implement it in the short term. Morning Sun Academy does have such a plan, but it is too small in scale due to limited manpower.

"That's right, we only realized that after this incident."

096 nodded to Ai Yue, "Blocking knowledge won't make us better. We can only improve through mutual exchange. Even scholars from different fields can find inspiration from each other that they wouldn't normally notice. That's the original intention behind the establishment of the 'Seeker's Cult'."

Then she pulled over a blackboard with two sets of questions from different fields written on it, "We'll talk about more things after you pass the test. As long as you can complete it within an hour..."

The entrance test for the Seeker's Cult is actually quite difficult. When new members join the sect, they need to face three questions in their area of expertise. These questions are usually randomly selected from a question bank contributed by sect members. Although they are not too difficult, there is obviously a certain threshold. Therefore, not everyone who comes here can pass them smoothly.

However, 096 was clearly unaware of the identities of the two people in front of her. Before she could even finish speaking, Ai Yue had already completed the three questions in front of him.

"That's interesting."

After finishing, he also made a comment. "The first two questions were a bit rigid, but the third question had a rather novel approach."

Then he looked at Mobius on the other side. "So, do you need any help?"

"Shut up!"

Mobius glared at him, then finished the last question. "These things aren't difficult for me, are they?"

As a leading scholar in the field of genetics, how could she possibly be stumped by questions posed by these younger scholars? Perhaps some of the literature they consulted before setting the questions was written by her.

However, compared to someone like Ai Yue who seems to need no thought at all, he was still a bit slow.

"So fast?"

096 stared at the blackboard in disbelief, still a little dazed—these questions were actually quite difficult, so 096 had thoughtfully doubled the original 30-minute time limit. But she hadn't expected that the two of them would spend less than a minute on the questions combined, and she hadn't even finished reading the questions!

The key question is, how old are these two people? Although the masks obscured part of their faces, judging from their voices and other characteristics, the couple in front of us are definitely only in their early twenties.

Does Atra City have such a master?

After a brief moment of confusion, 096 quickly became excited again—she had only agreed to recommend two people to the sect because she had previously received funding from Eden and was simply returning a favor. But now it seemed that she was the one who owed them something.

Being able to introduce such a talented newcomer to the sect would also be beneficial to her.

"096?"

Seeing that she didn't react for a while, Ai Yue asked, "Why don't you check again?"

"No, no need."

096 snapped out of her daze and nodded. "You've passed. Please wait a moment while I apply for your serial numbers. There will also be a welcoming ceremony later."

"There's really no need for a welcoming ceremony..."

Ai Yue instinctively tried to dissuade him, but 096 had already turned and run away. So he could only scratch his head and look at Mobius next to him. "Do you think that if we're so high-profile, someone will question whether we're cheating?"

"And then you embarrassed him on the spot, right?"

Mobius glanced at Ai Yue and said, "Where in this world are there so many brainless people? Besides, this is Atra City, a gathering of scholars. Even if people question you, they won't question whether you cheated, but rather your problem-solving approach."

Although Mobius was unfamiliar with the stories of showing off and getting slapped in the face in popular novels, she was quite familiar with the situation in Atra City and naturally knew that what Ai Yue said would not happen.

"That's hard to say."

Ai Yue shrugged, revealing a malicious smile. "I still remember when someone didn't like me and wanted to give me a hard time with a difficult project."

Clearly, he was referring to the time when Mobius used the Fused Warrior project to scare him when he first joined the Moth to Fire.

Mobius paused for a moment, then blushed slightly. "That was a special case!"

While the two were still chatting, 096 walked over with another person. "001, these are the two new recruits I told you about."

001? So he's the founder of this sect?

Ai Yue looked up immediately, then his eyes widened.

Even though the other person was wearing a mask, why did they look somewhat familiar?

The woman with the "001" badge on her chest also froze in place when she saw Ai Yue and Mobius.

The next second, the other party turned and ran.

"Huh?"

096 was clearly taken aback by this situation and was completely dumbfounded. "001?"

"It's okay, I'll go find her."

Ai Yue smiled and walked past 096, his tone carrying a subtle emotion, "Take this opportunity to have a good chat with her."

As it turns out, scholars who spend long hours in the laboratory are not good at exercise. Ai Yue only took a few quick steps and caught up with the fleeing 001.

He made no attempt to grab her directly, simply following behind her at a leisurely pace, as if waiting for her to collapse from exhaustion.

Realizing that she couldn't escape, 001 simply gave up resisting and shrank into a corner, as if that would allow her to escape reality.

"Your stamina is really bad, you need to exercise more."

Ai Yue walked over unhurriedly, a smile on his face. "Right, Einstein?"

001 covered her head with her hands. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"If you want to disguise your identity, you'd better remember to comb your messy hair neatly next time,"

Ai Yue reached out and flicked the mask, revealing the red highlights hidden beneath the other person's mask. "And your turning and running away is really too much of an admission of guilt, isn't it?"

At this moment, Ai Yue finally remembered why this place looked familiar—it was actually the back part of the Einstein Institute, but because he entered through the back door, Ai Yue didn't recognize it at first.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, 001, or Einstein, lost all will to resist. "I'm sorry, I was wrong, please punish me?"

"Ah?"

This time, it was Ai Yue was stunned. "What did I do wrong?"

"Huh?"

Einstein looked up. "Shouldn't I have organized such a sect in your name?"

"So it really was you who did it,"

Ai Yue sighed, "Forget it, it's come to this, there's no point in punishing them—besides, this sect is actually quite interesting."